Method of making friction blocks



' Sept. 1, 1931. J. s. THOMPSON METHOD OF MAKING FRICTION BLOCKS Filed Dec. 5, 192a Patented Sept. 1, 1931 V UNITED, STATES PATENT orrl'ca JAMES S. THOMPSON, XORK, N. Y., ASSIGN OR TO AMERIC AN BRAKE MATERIALS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF MAKING FRICTION BLOCKS Application filed December 8, 1928. Serial No. 323,810.

The invention relates generally to friction brakes and its Object is to provide a novel method of making friction blocks or shoes for use in braking a moving member by frictional contact therewith.-

I have'illu stratedthe invention in a selected embodiment in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front plan view of a block for 16 an external contracting brake.

Fig. 2 is a back plan view of the block shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3' is a front plan view of another form of block. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the block shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the block shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the mold showing the materials therein for making the block.

Referring to the drawings the block comprises a body 7 mounted upon and anchored to a' reticulated metal back 8 which mav be a Wire mesh, expanded metal or some other form of reticulated metal. The body is made of a suitable composition which will provide friction sufiicient for the intended purpose and which is wear and heat resistant. -The'back is embedded in the body and is ri idly united, therewith.

In the particular .a aptations of the invention shown in the drawings, portions of the back project beyond the body of the block to receive the means whereby the block is secured in place on its support. In Figs. 1, 2 and 4 the back projects beyond the ends of the body and in Figs. '3 and 5 the back projects beyond the sides of the body. 40 Each projecting part of the back is provided with a reinforce on both sides, preferably in the form of a strip of sheet metal 9, which is bent upon itself/in U-shape and encloses the projecting part of the back. This strip reinforces the back where it receives the fastening means by which the block is secured on its support, the strip the stening devices. These openings are and this punching will ordinarily from the front of the block so that t e edge- 11 surrounding each'opening will bedebeing provided with openings 10 to receive p the enclosed projecting part of the back, roceed pressed through the end of the back towards or into engagement with that part of the strip at the backof the block as more -par ticularly set forth in my original application For some purposes the depression of the edge or edges of the openings in the interstices of the reticulated back may be so that the strip will be anchored to the backsubstantially throughout at least the inner side thereof, and this can be accomplished in the operation of molding the body on the back. In Fig. 6 I have shown a mold 13 having-a movable plunger 14, the bottom 13" of the mold and the operative face 14 of the plunger being curved, as shown, to produce an arcuate block or they may be flat to produce a flat block. In practioe the back with the U-shaped strips on its ends, or on its sides, is arranged in the mold with the body material and pressure is then applied by operating the plunger 14 to form the block. The back with the strips thereon is of a length slightly greater than the distance between the end walls 15 of the mold cavity and it is curved in the operation of inserting the back in the mold, at the bottom of the cavity, as indicated in F ig.- 6. A suflicient quantity of the body material for making the desired block is suitably disposed in the mold upon the back and then pressure is applied by operating the-plunger to compress the body material and mold it upon the back to form the block. The pressure applied by the plunger 14 will be sufficient to'fo'rce thebody material through the reticulations in the back and cause it to spread to some extent on the back, and will also be sufficient to reduce" indentations of the strip throughout its length as indicated at 12. The block "may then be removed from the mold and the portions of the body may be removed to clear the strips as shown in Fig. 1. Then the openings are punched. That portion of the doubled strip which lies on the front or body side of the reticulated back is-indented while that portion of the double strip which lies on the back of the reticuing brake.

tend to orsubstantially to the reticulatedback to facilitate bending the block between its ends to fit supports which vary considerably in curvature. The invention may be employed in making brake blocks of this general type-for friction brakes of differ- I have illustrated the invention ent kinds. as used for making a block for an external contracting brake but obviously the bottom of the moldcavity may be made with a convex instead of a concave curve and the operative face of the plunger may be made with a concave instead of a convex curve for molding a block for an internal expands in the general practice of my invention within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

Other changes may be made ing friction blocks which includes providing a supporting back made of reticulated material with reinforcing strips on edge portions thereof, placing the back and body material in a mold, and applying pressure on the ,body material andreinforcing strips to depress and indent the strips in the in-- terstices of the back. a

- 5. The herein described method of making friction blocks which includes providing a supporting back made of reticulated material with reinforcing U-shaped strips enclosing edge portions of the back, placing the back and body material in a mold, the outer sides of the U-shaped stripsengaging flatly the bottom of the mold, applying pressure to mold the body material on the back over one entire side of the back and at the same time cause said body material to depress and indent the inner side of the strips in the reticulations of the back,

and then removing portions of the body to uncover the reinforced edges of the back.

6.'The herein described method of making friction blocks which consists in providing a mold having acmold cavity therein, placing in the mold a supporting back of greater length than the length of the mold cavity and flexing the back so that it will be seated in the mold cavity at the bottom thereof, placing body material in the mold cavity on said back, and applying prelsisure to mold the body material on the JAMES s. THOMPSON.

1'. The herein described method of makingfriction blocks which consists in placinga supporting back and body material in a mold, applying pressure to mold the bodymaterial on the back overone entire side of the back, and then removing portions of the body to uncover corresponding parts of the back.

2. The herein described method of making friction blocks which consists in placing a. supporting back and-body material in a mold, applying pressure to mold. the body material on' the back over one entire side of the back, andthen removing edge to uncover correspond- -ing parts of the back.

portions of the body 3. The herein described ism-a making friction blocks which consists in. ro-' back and in rein orc-' viding a supportin ing edge portions t ereof, placing the back in a mold and flexing the same,

3 s the body material in the mold, applying pressure to mold the body material on the back over one entire-side of the back, and then removing portions of the body to un- IQO cover the. reinforced edge portions of the back. I

e n described meth qfi unk 

